Election

 Election

In a nutshell: At a simple and orderly high school in Omaha, an over-eager student named Tracy Flick is running for school president. One of her teachers, Jim McAllister, despises Tracy and isn't happy that she is running unopposed in her campaign. To stop her “reign of terror”, Jim convinces jock and popular senior student Paul to also run for School President, triggering off a series of events that leads to cheating, revenge, adultery, and cupcakes!  

 What was different/original about it? Election has Indie-film written all over it, however it cast a young up-and-coming star (Reese Witherspoon), a former 80’s star in need-of-a-hit (Matthew Broderick) and “that guy from American Pie” (Chris Klein) in it. No one would have thought a movie about a high school presidential election set in the mundane state of Omaha would be so entertaining. But it’s the way it’s told that captures you; there are four main characters, all who narrate the film from their perspective, and it’s shot in a way that utilises freeze-frames, flashbacks and an unusual choice in music to tell its clever story. You can’t help but smile, tongue in cheek, throughout the whole film at its subtle genius.

How did it change movies? Like its 1999 counter-part “American Beauty”, Election was part of the rebirth of Independent Film in the mainstream Hollywood Cineplex. With this introduction, audiences were hooked and decided they wanted to see more films with thoughtful scripts, theatre-style lawmaking and big name actors willing to step away from the safety of clichéd Hollywood movies and do something different. You could say Election was part of the inspiration for movies such as “About Schmidt”, “Sideways” and “Juno”.    

Next up,..."The Blair Witch Project"

or

Return to "Special Reviews"